Principal Secretary for ICT and Innovation Jerome Ochieng says the government was committed to the ongoing digital transformation exercise to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of service in public offices.
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He stressed that technology had become the cornerstone of daily operations in recent times hence the push to keep pace with ever growing dynamics and challenges and adapt to the global realities of life.
“We are growing a nation where every citizen, enterprise and organization has digital access and the capability to participate and thrive in the digital economy,” said the PS, who further observed that the PDTP programme launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 was aimed at providing a high end human capacity to the public.
He said the Country’s Digital Master Plan will serve as one of Kenya’s contributions in championing the growth of an African-wide digital economy for all of Smart Africa Alliance members as envisioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ochieng called on the over 400 cohorts currently going through the mentorship programme to use the one year opportunity to capacitate themselves and be ready for the job market as well as create jobs themselves.
Present at the meeting was ICT Authority CEO Dr. Katherine Getao who called on the cohorts to be good ambassadors of the program, which is meant to capacitate them as high end technology experts.
Gitau said that so far 900 cohorts have graduated with slightly above 400 of them securing jobs in the corporate world, while private and public sectors supported the programme by providing internships and mentorships.
On her part, ICT Director for Partnership and Innovation Eunice Mueni Kariuki stated that the programme is a cure for unemployment by making the cohorts job creators.
The Jubilee administration in partnership with the private sector launched the Presidential Digital Talent Program (PDTP), aimed at improving ICT development in the country and was designed to build and entrench ICT capacity within the Kenyan Government to ensure ICT effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery.
Meanwhile, according to the Kenya National Economic Survey report of 2019, the value of the ICT sector in the country expanded by 12.9 per cent from Sh345.6 billion in 2017 to Sh390.2 billion in 2018, driven by growth in the digital economy.
By Gworo Alice
